31 Jan 2012

Happy Happy first birthday to my baby Finn!!!! Already 1 year old. Thank goodness I don't have to go back to work till March 5th. So not ready yet. I will be though. Still have to find childcare. We have doctors for the kids and Finn will be getting his one year shots this week. Not going to do it today on his birthday. Also not sure if they will do it when he has a cold so may have to wait on that. Paul turned 34 on Jan 26th!!!

So on the 23rd Kelly came over and we did round 2 of cooking with Kelly. Was awesome. We did pulled pork in the slow cooker. Sooooo good. We also roasted a chicken, did 2 batches of mexican lassagna, 2 batches of oven baked chicken, taco meat, and we marinaded 2 batches of pork loins with the stampede bbq. Was a great time.

Tuesday afternoon we went down to the new freshco at Findlay creek. Was a great little trip. Strawberries were on for $1/pound. We picked up 2 for us and 2 for Steph. Then they also had the maple leaf prime 3 pack of chicken breasts. Their price was $10 but I price matched them for $5 from the food basics flyer. I picked up 6 for us and 4 for Steph. She also wanted a ricotta and some toilet paper so I picked that up. If I payed $10 for each chicken breast my bill would have been $60. My bill ended up at $59 and I bought the 6 chicken breast, 2 more whiskas price matched for $4.99 and used my 2 $2 off coupons (from Aunt Marjorie), 3 packs of dempsters soft tortillas, 2 packs of olives, a couple jars of tomotatoes. Can't remember what else but it was awesome. Then Tuesday night I cleaned for 2.5-3 hours.

Wednesday night I hosted my epicure party for Kelly. Was also great. Most people were busy, away, cancelled or double booked. However, Julia, Kevin, Karina and Erin came. Erin is a friend of Karina and she is awesome. Due any day now with their first baby. Was a great time. She is also a scrapbooker/cardmaker and lives like 4 blocks or less from me so that is awesome. And she is having a baby girl so that will be nice!!!! Party went well. The food was soooooooooooooooo yummy.

Thursday was Logan's last day of school for the week as friday was a pro d day. We packed up in the afternoon and dropped off Stephanie's stuff from freshco. She would have come to the party but was deathly ill with a virus. We missed having her. We dropped off her stuff and then headed to kingston. We picked up pizza on the way and headed to Lesley and Enno's. Daddy met us there and we had a nice supper and a visit and then he headed back to the shacks. Logan even had a bath with their almost 4 year old Emily!! A huge bubble bath! Happy 34th birthday to Paul!

Friday morning Lesley noticed that the dome light was on in my car so she asked for my keys to shut it off. Needless to say we remembered that Paul didn't give me my keys back from when he brought in my suitcase. I managed to track down the duty centre and they got a message to Paul to call me. He came over and gave me my keys and even scraped my windshields for me as we were having freezing rain.

Then after I showered we were on our way to Brighton for a visit with Jen, Nate and Owen. We did a quick pit stop at Burger King in Belleville for the free fries!!! Delicious. We made it to Jen's by 1100. The 401 was great but the sideroads were a little dirty. We had a wonderful visit. Mr. Finn and Mr. O are the same size which is hillarious. Can't wait to get the pics from Jen. She took a couple. We had a lovely lunch and a great visit. The kids played well!!!! Logan was sad when we were leaving but Jen's inlaws were down for the weekend as well.

We made it to Mom and Dad's by 1530. Shannonville road and moneymore were awful but we went nice and slow. Paul got there friday night and we had a great supper and visit. I was exhausted so I went to bed early. Saturday Mom H insisted that we take Finn to the walk in clinic in Belleville but they confirmed what Paul and I thought that it was just a cold and to wait it out. We had a couple of things to pick up and then we headed home. Saturday night we celebrated Paul and Finn's birthdays with the family. Amy and Steve came up. Steve bought Logan and Finn a ski-doo ride on like a gt snow racer. It is awesome. Logan and I went skidooing with Uncle Steve and even Grandpa did too. Then Logan got pulled around on his new skidoo. Was a blast. Good thing we got so much snow on saturday. Mom bought a delicious cake for Finn. Will post some pics.

Sunday Paul took a quick trip up to see Nana and Papa by himself. Then when he got back, we took Finn over to see Great Grandpa. He didn't want to chance falling down and come over to the birthday party. Logan was in the jeep with Grandpa on Sunday using the plow clearing off the driveways.

We left Mom and Dad's at around 1615 on Sunday night and we stopped at Swiss Chalet for a family supper before the kids and I headed back to Ottawa and Paul went back to the base. Was a crappy ride home since Finn screamed/cried 80% of the way. They both fell asleep 15 minutes from home. Finn had a poopy diaper when we got home so not sure if that was what was wrong or not.

He is standing for longer and longer periods of time and is almost running while pushing his walker. Any day now. He was climbing on the little wooden rocking chair and Mom and Dad's and standing on it with no hands. My little daredevil.

We took a quick trip out yesterday to IKEA. I picked up 4 rails to be mounted on a wooden board to store my punches. They were $3.99 each. Great deal. I am looking for a dresser for Logan and there was one for $39 but it was small and crappy. Not sure I want to spend $149 so will keep looking. Maybe I can find a used one! Then we stopped at Metro to pick up the olymel chicken strips that were on for $4.99 since I had 3 $2.50 off coupons. Was a great deal. One of the boxes even came with $5.50 in coupons inside it. Then home for supper. We had the taco meat that I cooked with Kelly and it was awesome. Logan and Finn ate a whole can of olives between them. ( a big can). Then bedtime. Finally had Finn in his bed by 2040. He slept till 0400 when I had to feed him and bring him to my bed.

Found some good tearpad coupons at metro: 75 cemts off any 4l bag or 2l carton of natrel lactose free milk, save $1 off new harvest splendour medleys by mccain (hasbrowns with broccoli or other vegetables), $1 off of astro original greek yogurt products, and buy 2 get one free whiskas wet food or pouches.

Have to run out and get another birthday cake and candles for Finn for tonight. Logan is insisting!! Tomorrow we will pop over to Stephanie's after Logan's school for an arts cow tutorial and a visit. Then on Thurday we have a play date with Auntie Julia at her house. Will be fun. Wednesday night wasn't long enough for us to catch up!!

Love Rae-Lynn, Paul, Logan and Finn

Week recap and shopping trip

Wednesday was an awesome day. I headed over to Kelly's with the kids for my cooking tutorial day. We made 5 dishes. We made lassagna, chilli, broccoli cheese and chicken casserole, oven baked chicken, and a meat penne casserole dish. I sampled them as we went and they were amazing. Lots of epicure spices and so they were delicious. We didn't get home till after 8 that night.

Then Thursday we went to a Mommy and me stars and strollers movie with Stephanie and Baby Kieran. We went to see "We bought a zoo" It was alright. The best part was that it was national popcorn day so you got free popcorn with every drink purchase. It only cost me $8.99 for my ticket and then 2 bottles of water got Logan and I and a free popcorn each. Total was $15.47 or so and I earned Scene points. He didn't even charge me for Logan to get in on purpose. was soooooo great.

Then after the movie I had to run to Sears to return some Christmas stuff that didn't fit. I was able to get 2 pairs of jeans and a nice sweater in exchange. Was a great sale there. Then I popped in to Wal-mart and price matched the no frills huggies wipes that they were selling for $2. I used my 4 .75 cents off coupons and got each one for $1.25. 4 packs of wipes for $5. I gave two packs to Stephanie since she took Logan home with her after the movie. I also picked up 2 packs of pork loin chops on for $7 each and an activia for $2.99 and used my $1 off coupon.

Then we had supper with Brendan, Stephanie, Connor and Kieran. Stephanie is a great cook and it was delicious. We had a good coupon chat and I gave her some coupons. Really good visit.

Then we headed home. Logan was sick again on Friday still. Hopefully he will be good to go back on Monday. Friday was super super cold here so we didn't go anywhere. Daddy came home friday night. I ran out quickly to get the mail and pick up my free banana bread from macs and almost froze to death. Paul car-pooled home this weekend. That was cool but it sucks not having the two vehicles.

Paul took Logan to get skates today. He found a pair for $20 at play it again sports and then somehow paid $12 for guards. Oh well. He also bought a thing for Logan to hold while he learns to skate. I kept Finn home since it was so cold. Paul was going to take him but he was tired and seems to have a cold so I kept him here.

After Paul got home he got the snowblower working and did the driveway. Then we went to church at 1700 in Manotick to try it out. We normally go to the base church at 1100 but it seems to end up taking all day given it is at 1100 so we went to check out the other one. I prefer the base church so we will be going there unless we absolutely can't.

Then after supper I got to head out and do my weekly shopping. First I headed to Wal-mart. They didn't have the 3 pack of maple leaf prime so I wasn't able to price match food basics and get them. I did get 3 green peppers for $2.76, salad for $2, 5 apples for $2.20, 1 cucumber for $1.47, I pricematched dempsters tortillas for $2.29 and got 2 packs, price matched fresh co I believe for celery for $.99 saving a $1, and price matched loblaws green onions at 50 cents each instead of 77 cents each. Total $15 and then I donated $1 to CHEO.

After walmart I headed to shoppers drugmart on merivale and they didn't have any multibionta vitamins so I left and went to metro.

At metro I picked up 2 maple leaf prime whole chickens for $6.68 each. I also picked up a VH teryaki and a VH soya sauce on for $1.98 each and used my $2 off when you buy 2 coupon making them $1 each, I picked up 2 packs of extra lean ground beef on for $2.99 a pound, and 2 boxes of alpen for $5.49 each,. I think that was it.

Then I went to the other shoppers on merivale and they also didn't have the multibionta so I went to the shoppers at heron and Bank st. They had 5 boxes of the multibionta 30 count and these were on for $11.99 and I had coupons for $10 off. Since it was a spend $75 get 18500 ($25) points promotion it was awesome to have 5 boxes at 11.99. That was $59 on its own so after that I only needed $16 to get my bonus. I picked up kashi cereal on for $3.99 and used my $2 off coupon, crest pro health toothpaste on for $2 and comes with a free mouthwash and $10 worth of coupons and used my 50 cents off, picked up 4 charmin toilet paper travel packs at $1.19 each and used 4 $1 off coupons, and then got 2 cadbury bars on for 2 for $5 which isn't a great deal but I received 500 bonus points when I bought 2. on a normal day a $50 transaction is 500 points. Total before taxes was $75 and change. After coupons the total was $19.20. After taxes total was $28.52. I "saved" on the bill $27.57. Coupon savings total was: $56.50. Regular points earned was 750, 500 bonus and then 18500. Total points earned 19750. I was soooooooooooooo happy.

Now I am home and it is time for bed. One more day with hubby and family together.

On Monday I am having another cooking day with Kelly which will be fun!

Love Rae-Lynn, Paul, Logan and Finn.

Strep

So Logan's voice was hoarse on Sunday when he got up and he had a bit of a cough. This got worse over night and so I decided to go to the walk in clininc yesterday. We started at the appletree on merivale. We got out of the car and to the door where they had a sign saying that they moved. It was cold yesterday too so we rushed back to the car and went to the new location. When we registered it said there was 11 people ahead of us. After 20 minutes I went to ask if we were allowed to go to the rexall which was attached while we were waiting and the guy said it would be at least another 2 hours. He suggested we go to 2948 baseline which only had a 15 minute wait. We drove the 10 minutes to that location and there was 6 people ahead of us when we registered. The wait time on the screen changed from 15 minutes to 40 minutes to an hour to 2 hours 45 minutes. We probably waited a good 1.5 hours before we got in. The Dr. said his tonsils were red and swollen and figured it was strep throat so she wrote us a prescription for amoxicillin. We called that in to shoppers drug mart and then went to walmart to return the rented movie from saturday night and pick up a few things.

I was able to get the cheese on for $4.44. mozza and cheddar, price matched broccoli at metro for 99cents a head. Walmart was charging $1.47 a head. Price matched mushrooms 227 g whole white mushrooms for 99 cents instead of $1.97 each. oranges were on for $2.77 for 4 lbs, this time the chicken was back in stock. 5 chicken breasts for $9. Grabbed 3 packs. Bought crest pro-health rinse trial size for $1 and used my $1 off coupon getting 3 for free. Then used the buy one crest pro-health rinse get one free glide floss. Got 3 of those for free (regular cost $3.67), grabbed another motrin 16 count liquid caps $3.47 minus $3 coupon. Total for 4 Lbs Oranges, 2 big heads of broccoli, 2 packs of mushrooms, 4 500g blocks of cheese (2 mozza, 2 cheddar), 3 packs chicken breasts (5 per), 1 motrin 16 pack, 3 crest pro-health rinse, and 3 glide floss came to $55 after all taxes. Including a .77 donation to CHEO. Total cost should have been: $81.23. Price matching and coupons saved me $26.24 This doesn't include what the chicken would have cost if I didn't get such a great deal. Following that we picked up Logan's prescription at shoppers. Apparently you don't get points on prescriptions which I thought I did in BC. I also found out that there is a walk in clinic at the walmart supercentre on baseline and clyde. Next time we will go there. The wait is reportedly only 20 minutes.

Then we made it home and I was feeding Finn and we both took a little nap. Then I fed Finn supper since Logan said he just wanted to rest. Logan was in bed sleeping by 1800. Finn had supper and a bath and then I put him in his crib at 2000 since he was bugging Logan on my bed and was done nursing. He was asleep within 5 minutes. He woke up at 0400 and joined us in my bed.

Logan is home from school again today and is taking his antibiotics. Buses were cancelled today as well. We are just staying in today as I do not want to take them anywhere if I don't have to.

Love Rae-Lynn, Paul, Logan and Finn

Christmas Letter

2011 started up with me in my last month of pregnancy with sweet Mr. Finn. We were lucky enough to finally meet Quinlan when Rolly and Robyn came for a visit mid January. Unfortunately it was only a couple of days but we had a blast with them. Then on 31 Jan Finn was born. He was only 8 lbs 2 oz which was a nice change. I was able to control my gestational diabetes by diet and exercise. Marjorie and Jerry took care of Logan while I was in the hospital with Finn. I was out of the hospital within 2 days of my c-section. Then Paul's Mom came for a 10 day visit to help us out. Logan loved the extra attention. We even squeezed in a trip to whistler so Paul could ski a couple of days and a mini-holiday. Was wonderful. The day after Mom left, my Dad arrived. We had him out to help for 3 weeks which was also a blessing. The first night Dad was there we almost burnt the house down. Logan's dora chair was placed next to the gas fireplace and the heat from the pilot light was hot enough to make it smolder. Thank goodness Finn woke me up to eat and I smelled it. Starting one month after Finn was born I started having what was later diagnosed as Gall Bladder Attacks. Pretty much a month after each one. It was hell. I was able to have surgery Sept 6 to remove my Gall Bladder. The spring was busy with Finn and Logan and preparing for my friend Gillian's wedding in May. It was a beautiful wedding. I also started extreme couponing in May and love love it. I was always a sale/bargain hunter but now combining that with sales is awesome and my stock pile is growing. Then from there we flew to Manitoba for Lynne and Dino's wedding and had a great time visiting family as I hadn't been there for a year and a half. Then we were home till the end of July and then flew to Ontario to visit Paul's family and go to George & Julia's wedding in Ottawa. We had a 2 week visit with Pauls family and then we stopped for another 2 week visit in Manitoba. That visit ended with a wonderful hotel stay with Rolly, Robyn and Quinlan in the city and tinkertown and a night at Lynne & Dinos. I came home the day Paul left for a 5 day adventure training kayaking trip to BCs broken islands. He kayaked over 100 kms that week and had a blast. That week I found out that my boss wanted to post me to Ottawa to a higher priority position. He said that Paul would be posted too so we said that it would be alright. This made things very chaotic for us as we were still in limbo with Pauls job since September 2010. I went to work de-hoarding. I donated 7 truckloads of stuff to the thrift store. We finally got our house on the market in October and late October we finally received Pauls posting message. I had received mine in the beginning of september. We flew to Ottawa for our house hunting trip 9-18 October. Mom H came down to help us with the kids for the first 3 days of house hunting. We couldn't have done it without her. They are also taking care of Tikka for us while we were trying to sell our house. We found a nice house that is unfortunately more money then we wanted to spend but such is life. We have accepted a conditional offer on our house in courtenay but that is only set to close 31 jan. Hopefully everything will work out with that. We left BC on the 2nd of Dec eastbound for Ottawa driving 2 vehicles. I flew Dad out so we would have a third driver and it is working well since Finn sleeps during the day and wants to be up all night nursing. Not too restful for me. Paul has received his trade transfer to ATIS technician. Aerospace telecommunications and information systems. He leaves us for Kingston on the 5 of January for 6-12 months of training. I guess I'll have to learn to cook asap!!! Logan has been in Aboriginal Headstart since April 2011. It was a great free program in Courtenay. It was wonderful for him to have exposure to our people. Then this september he was in the 4 year old program and once again loved it. We were very sad to leave all of his friends and the wonderful teachers. There is a program in Ottawa but he will most likely go right into Junior Kindergarten. Finn has been growing like a weed. He is currently 23 pounds but is soooo solid. He has been crawling since the end of october. He is super fast and very curious and for the most part very very happy. Finn was a devil for Halloween and Logan was thomas the tank during the day and buzz lightyear for trick or treating. His smile can light up a room. Logan continues to be the very best big brother that I could ever ask for. They have been great dealing with me stressed out over the move and sometimes lacking alot of patience. I hope to get better!!! We are ever thankful for the blessings in our life and family when we get to see them!!! We had quite the eventful drive east including losing a tire on the trailer, frozen windshield washer fluid, trailer bending its axel and having to call salvage metal to pick up boat and trailer, and a flat on my car! But we made it! Our new address is 4068 Canyon Walk drive, Gloucester, Ontario K1V-1W4. Phone: 613-455-6389. email: rae_lynn@hotmail.com and blog: raelynn77.blogspot.com
Love: Rae-Lynn, Paul, Logan, Finn, Tikka and Bear.

Independent Shopping trip 15 Jan

So I had to run to the independent with Finn today for a few things. Paul was taking Logan for a skate at the outdoor rink so I took the opportunity to go with Finn. I needed a couple of things that are on sale for my big cooking day with Kelly on Wednesday. I picked up 2 alcan aluminum foils on for $1 each, 4 cans nn kidney beans 85 cents each, 2 packs of oven ready nn lassagna at $2.49 each, 250 ml nn sourcream $1.49, 2 500ml tubs of nordica cottage cheese on for 2 for $5 minus 2 x .75 coupons, 2 jars ragu pasta sauce $1 each, 3lb bag of carrots (Paul needed for supper tonight) $1.99, bag of dole classic salad mix $1, 3 red peppers on for $2 a pound (green was $2.49) was $3.48 which works out better than the walmart price of $1.47 each, oral b manual toothbrushes on for $1 each (bought 3) had 3 $1 off coupons making them free, Rosemary chicken $10.99 (had to buy it since it was actually there and I have been wanting to try it), bonus pc points for bringing my own bags,Total was $37 and I redeemed 20,000 pc points so it only cost me $17.

Tomorrow after Logan goes to school Finn and I will run down to wal-mart. I have to return Crazy stupid love. I will be paying $1 late fee but I would have burned that in gas easily and then some and wasted 30 minutes or more door to door returning it today. Total for the movie will be $3.27 which is still super cheap. Tomorrow at wal-mart I will attempt to pick up the 5 pack of boneless skinless chicken breasts on for $9 (I need 2) but they were sold out saturday so doubt they will have any, the knorr chicken soup base 1 kg on for $8.88, will price match some more broccoli, will get the travel size pro-health rinse mouthwash which is $1 and use my $1 off coupon making it free, and then use the p&g coupon for the free glide floss when you buy the pro health rinse. Hopefully that will work out, 500g of mozza cheese on for $4.44, and another 500 g of cheddar (for my cook out with Kelly on Wednesday), At this point I can't remember what else I have on my list. Not too much and then I am good to go for Wednesday.

There is only one no frills here in ottawa which is in orleans so they don't send me a flyer so i can't price match the awesome deals they have this week. Maybe I can pop in there wednesday on the way to kelly's if I need to.

We had a wonderful weekend here with Paul and can't wait till he is home next weekend!!

Love Rae-Lynn, Paul, Logan and Finn